Pacers links: A little slippage in the rankings

Two losses last week prompt some observers to push them down their lists

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FILE - Indiana's Lance Stephenson can't believe he got called for a technical foul in the first quarter, as the Indiana Pacers hosted the Dallas Mavericks at Bankers Life Fieldhouse Wednesday February 12, 2014.(Photo: Joe Vitti / The Star)Buy Photo

The Indiana Pacers, who were less than dominating last week, are 1 1/2 games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder coming out the All-Star break. OKC is the unanimous No. 1 team in various power rankings. The Pacers? Well, it depends on who you ask.

Kurt Helin, ProBasketballTalk.com, has the Pacers falling two places to fourth, behind the Heat and Rockets.

They have lost two of three and, in its last 10 games, Indiana's offense has been bottom five in the league. Asked Frank Vogel about that All-Star weekend and he shrugged it off as just the mid-season blahs. He's right about that.

In the last 30 years, only seven below-average offensive teams have made the Finals. But the Pacers are the best defensive team we've seen in that timespan. They're just two games ahead of the Heat with two more head-to-head matchups left and more road games than Miami has remaining. But they do play an easier set of opponents (including the Bucks three times) over the last two months.

Marc Stein of ESPN.com has the Pacers falling one place to third, behind the Heat.

Frank Vogel insisted during All-Star Weekend that Indy's recent underwhelming play, as well as Paul George's, was just a blip as opposed to a legit cause for concern. Focus on the (Andrew) Bynum Watch will resume after we see how the Pacers look post-break.

The Pacers slip one spot to third, behind the Heat, on Matt Dollinger's list at SI.com.

We're going to assume the Pacers were already mentally on vacation when they scored a season-low 73 points against the Mavericks in their final game before the All-Star break. They can't afford too many slip-ups, though, if they want to stave off the Heat for the No. 1 seed.

Matt Moore of CBSSports.com puts the Clippers ahead of the Pacers, who dip to third.

Frank Vogel is such a nice guy in person, you wonder how he trains this team to be a pack of heat-seeking killer sharks with lasers for eyes.

While the Pacers still hold the best record in the East, Paul George is mired in a major slump. George is shooting just 35.3 percent in February, and he also ended January on a very poor note. If Indiana is going to make a championship run, George needs to find his stroke from the beginning of the year.

The Pacers were held to a season-low 73 points in a home loss to the Mavs. But they can put a firmer grip on the No. 1 seed in the East after the break, as seven of their first eight opponents have losing records and are bound for the lottery.